Running Around in Circles
by xochambersgirlxo
Summary: A new year at Castle Rock Junior High and Stella Hogan is not ready. Not only is she split up from her best friends, but crazy things start to happen such as drama, romance, teen angst and basically...growing up. How can she ever survive the madness? R&R!


Chapter One:

I sighed. It was the last night before school. The end of summer had come and taken a leap at us. My best friends, Chris Chambers, Gordie Lachance, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio and myself were all standing behind our tree house and looking out to the lake and the forest. The sun was setting over a horizon-like thing that was going on behind the trees and we all watched together. This summer had been crazy but most definitely the best summer of my life. We went on an adventure, the five of us, to go see a dead body. Now I know that doesn't sound like much fun but believe me, it was the best. I smiled as I thought of all the trouble we got into and how much fun it was. I looked over at my best friends who were all sighing and staring.

Chris was right next to me. He was very attractive with his blonde hair and his muscular figure. He was my closest friend out of the four other boys. We had grown up next door to each other our entire lives. His mom was friends with my mom but our fathers quarreled every now and again, as they were both raging alcoholics. That was another reason I felt closer to Chris, we both went through a lot of the same issues. My older brother, Charlie Hogan, was in a gang with Chris's older brother, Eyeball, and they were always picking on us. The leader of the gang (which is called the Cobras) Ace Merrill, is horrible to me. Now that I'm older, hopefully that will end. Tomorrow is my birthday and I am turning thirteen, which makes me an official teen. So now that I'm going to be a teen, Ace and the rest of the gang _should_ treat me with great respect. Chris said he'd make sure of it, but both of us know that they could break Chris in half in a second.

Next to Chris was Teddy, who was looking up into the sky which was forming stars. He wasn't extremely great looking, what with his huge glasses and oddly shaped head, but his ear is nasty. His father took it to a stove and almost burnt it off. I can connect with Teddy because our fathers are both nuts. The only difference is that Teddy still loves his father. I lost that love for my dad when I found out he was beating my little sister and cheating on my mother. Teddy and I barely get along though. You'll notice we argue like crazy. We never agree on anything. But when the day's done and it's time to throw in the towel, he's one of the only people there by my side no matter what.

After Teddy was Vern. His round tummy stuck out of his too-small striped collared shirt but he seemed fine playing with the blade of grass in his hand. He and I were closer than you would think. I sleepover his house a lot since his mom loves me. I don't know if she thinks he has a crush on me or something like that but she always treats me well whenever I come over and she's just kind. I tell Vern a lot of secrets. You would think that with him being such a blabbermouth that he wouldn't be able to keep any but he always does. I can't even remember a time where I've told him a secret and he told someone else. We can trust each other very easily, and that makes me happy.

After Vern was Gordie. Gordie Lachance. I don't know what it is about him but we never really reached out to each other. I know everything about him and he is the same about me. We've known each other for about ten years when Chris and I became friends with him in nursery school. I don't know, but we never really clicked. As far as I'm concerned, he would never want to spend some one on one time with me, he only does that with the guys. I don't know if it's cause I'm a girl or what the deal is, I never really bothered to find out.

And all the way back to the front of the line is me. Estella Hogan. Stella, for short. Tomorrow, I would become a teenager, but you already know that. I've lived here in tiny Castle Rock my entire lifetime. My best friends are Chris, Teddy, Vern, and Gordie. We've always been in each other's classes and we've never split up. As far as I know, we'll be together our entire lives. But as for me, I'm not very tall. I'm about average height. I have waist length light brown waves and grey-green eyes with long lashes. My chest surprisingly grew this year and I went up a cup size. I'm now a B. Woot! I'm really skinny, but I eat like a pig. Chris always told me that even if eating like a pig doesn't do much now, it will later. I always worried when 'later' was. I knew I would have to get fat at some point, I mean you can't eat as much as I do and stay as thin as a pin. It just doesn't happen that way.

The boys always told me I was part of the gang and considered me one of the guys, so I never really felt pretty. I hoped this year I would get a real boyfriend or something. I never really had that. In fact, I never had my first kiss either. You would think that somewhere in my thirteen years I would have experienced that, especially with my only friends being guys. But no, I've never felt the sweet lips of another on mine. My tongue never 'tangoed' and I've never played 'tonsil hockey'. For a while, that stuff didn't matter to me. All that mattered was getting through the day without my dad hitting my little five-year-old sister, Natalie or me, seeing my best friends, and eating a good meal. But this year I wanted something to spark, or for something to change. I wanted all those boys who always considered me 'one of the dudes' to think I was pretty. Or think that they could take me on dates. Or consider me an eligible girl to play 'tonsil hockey' with or to do 'back seat bingo' with.

"This is it," I heard Teddy say from two down from me. The sun had almost completely set and the sky was a pinkish purple color. I sighed for the thousandth time that night. The summer had gone by as quick as a wink. Now we would go back to school.

"Yeah, now we gotta go to Junior High," I added. Chris looked over at me and put his arm around me I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Stell, promise you won't forget us," he said, and then looked back at Gordie. "You too, Gordo, man." I frowned.

"What do you mean 'forget you'?" I asked him. As far as I knew, we would all stick together the whole year, as we did every year. It was our group tradition. We would hassle the teacher, sit together at lunch…etc;. What was Chris talking about?

"Well you and Gordo will be in the college courses with them smart guys and girls. Teddy and Vern and I will be in the shop courses makin' bird houses and shit," he told me. I shook my head.

"No, there's no way that would ever happen. And no offence to Teddy and Vern, but you're just as smart as Gordie and I, Chris." I said, and he took my hand.

"None taken, Stell. I know I'm no Einstein," Vern said and Teddy nodded in agreement.

"Let's walk over there. Guys, we'll be right back, I want to talk to Stella alone." He told them and they nodded. Chris and I walked to the other side of the tree. I was so confused. Why in the world would we split up?

"Chris," I began but he pulled me down to sit against the tree trunk. I was surprised but I did as he did, and sat next to him. He turned to face me.

"Look, Stella. You are going to meet extremely different guys and girls. You and Gordie will be all wrapped up with them, you'll forget all about us. Don't lie because you know it's true." I nodded. It was true that Gordie and I were the smartest out of the group, but I knew in my heart that just because our classes weren't the same, we would still stick together. "and this means you'll meet boys. I'm not going to lie to you, Miss Almost a Teenager, you've gotten…pretty hot." I was taken aback, but flattered at the same time. "I know there will be boys all over you this year, and I know you haven't had your first kiss yet…" we looked into each others eyes. I knew what he was doing. He was going to kiss me. I didn't really know how I felt about that. I never had feelings before about Chris, he was always just my best friend, nothing more.

"Chris…" he put his finger to my lips and I shushed.

"Look I just want your first kiss to be…special. I don't want it to be with some asshole. I want it to be with someone you trust," he said, getting very close to me. I could feel the hairs on my neck stand up. This was odd, I knew I had no feelings for Chris at all, and I knew that there was no way I would enjoy this kiss. Plus, what did _he_ care what _my_ first kiss was like? It really was none of his business.

"Look if you're going to kiss me…" I said, trailing off as he pulled me in and as I felt his soft lips touch mine, I instantly pulled back. "What are you doing, Chris?" I asked him, astonished at his behavior.

"What do you mean? I just wanted you're first kiss to be with someone like your best friend or something!" He said, we were getting into an argument about the stupidest thing possible.

"Why do you think _my_ first kiss is any concern of _yours_?" I asked with attitude. That was it, my first kiss was gone and I'll never be able to do it over.

"I just thought—"

"No, you weren't thinking. And what makes you think I could ever like you in _that_ way?" I asked, still angry. He shrugged.

"I didn't think you liked me in that way I just wanted your first kiss—"

"Wait! I know what this is!" it was all making sense now. "You wanted _your_ first kiss to be with someone _you_ trust. You wanted _your_ first kiss!" I said, figuring it out. Chris blushed insanely.

"Well…maybe," he said embarrassed. Then he shook it off. "Well so what? Now we both had our first kiss and now we're all prepared for junior high. Can we go now? It's getting late." He said, rushing along. I nodded and we both walked back to the other boys who had apparently started walking already.

"Hey what were you guys doing?" Teddy asked, arching his bushy eyebrows. I laughed.

"Nothing of your concern, Theodore." I said, using his full first name. He always gets mad at me for that, but I get a kick out of it.

"Well, Gordie, Vern and I are headed this way, see you guys at school tomorrow!" Teddy said as the other boys waved and parted as we got to the crossroads. Chris and I walked together to our homes.

"I can't believe we really just kissed," I said, laughing to myself. Chris giggled.

"Shut up, can we just pretend it never happened?" he begged and I smiled. He curled his bottom lip as to pout and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, we can completely forget it." I said, thinking some more. "But about what you said, that goes for you too." I told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't go making new best friends," I said. "It's Stella and Chris, best friends till the end. You hear me?" I said and he nodded. We reached our houses and stood in between them for a while.

"Are you ready?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"Not even a little bit," I laughed out, but inside I was serious. I really had no clue what to expect tomorrow.

"We'll get through it," he said hugging me, and I held him close.

"We always do," I smiled. "Well," I sighed and he pulled back.

"Well," he repeated me. We smiled together a warm smile.

"See you tomorrow," I whispered, as I ran back to my house.

"Not if I see you first," he said running back to his.

**a/n: do you think it will be the start of something great? Please let me know! I have no idea where this story is headed but I can tell you one thing, it will NOT take me a year to update! Hopefully there will be updates every week and hopefully there will be more reviews. Now, I am not working on chapter two until I get…five reviews. Fair enough? I think it's fair. I mean come on, this is a pretty long chapter! BEETEEDOUBLEYOU: I wanted Stella's character to look like this girl right here: . or look at THIS picture: .com/wallpaper/Female_Celebrity/Willa_! Her name is Willa Holland and she is in some TV show that I dont know, but she's gorgeous and I want Stella to look like her. So...w00t! Please REVIEW! Okay, so I'll see you in five reviews! 3 peace out girlscout! Later skater!**

**-Cassidy **


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